Egypt and Saudi Arabia Join African Nations Facing Locust Threat

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Egypt and Saudi Arabia joined
countries in northern Africa that face a threat from locusts
after swarms of the pest insects formed in Niger, Mali and Chad,
the United Nations said.

Infestations were reported in Libya, Morocco, Egypt and
Saudi Arabia in the past week, the UN’s Rome-based Food &
Agriculture Organization wrote on its Locust Watch website
today. Activity increased in Niger, Mauritania and Sudan, the
agency said.

Egypt is forecast to be Africa’s biggest wheat producer in
2012-13, followed by Algeria and Morocco, according to the
International Grains Council. An adult desert locust can eat its
own weight in food daily, according to the FAO.

“All efforts should continue to maintain and expand survey
and control operations in the affected countries in order to
reduce the scale of further migration and eventual breeding,”
the FAO wrote.

Ground-control operations took place in Niger and
Mauritania and to a lesser extent in Chad, the agency said.
Small groups of adult locusts moved into southern Algeria and
parts of Libya during periods of warm southerly winds, and
control operations were carried out, the FAO said.

In Sudan, ground- and aerial-control operations continue
against small swarms that formed in summer breeding areas in the
country’s interior and are now moving northeast.

Increasing locust numbers were reported in Western Sahara
and along the southern side of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains,
according to the report. A small swarm was seen in southeastern
Egypt, and a limited number of adult insects may have crossed
the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, the FAO said.

Swarms containing tens of millions of locusts can fly as
much as 150 kilometers (93 miles) a day, and a female locust can
lay 300 eggs in her lifetime, according to the agency.